Israel vows to invade Rafah amid Gaza truce talks, UN warns against assault

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: THE LATEST

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu said Israel would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’s last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners but it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.

• The United Nations has warned that an Israeli assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip was “on the immediate horizon” and that “incremental” progress by Israel on aid access to the enclave could not be used to prepare for or justify an operation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for states with influence over Israel “to do everything in their power” to prevent an Israeli assault on Rafah.

• United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday for talks with Netanyahu and other officials. Blinken said he would discuss with Netanyahu measures that Israel still needs to take to increase the flow of aid into Gaza. Efforts have been intensifying to reach a truce and hostage deal, meant to free hostages.

• Netanyahu has accused the International Criminal Court in The Hague of trying to prevent Israel from defending itself against terrorism, amid reports that the UN court could issue arrest warrants for some of Israel’s top officials, including him. In a video statement, Netanyahu said, “Eighty years after the Holocaust, the international bodies that were established to prevent another Holocaust are considering denying the Jewish state the right to defend itself against those who came to commit genocide against us and are still actively working to do so. What an absurdity, what a distortion of justice and history.”

• An Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo for a brief urgent visit to get word of the latest discussions conducted between Egyptian mediators and Hamas regarding a possible hostage deal, The Times of Israel cited London-based Arab paper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. The report suggested the Israelis were provided a paper with Hamas’s “amendments” to Israel’s latest truce proposal, which the US and UK have described as “extraordinarily generous.”